


Appreciating the Heights

by lightningwaltz



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Banter, Kissing, M/M, Wilderness Survival, some hints of UST but they have other things on their mind (see previous tag)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-14
Updated: 2020-02-14
Packaged: 2021-02-27 15:15:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,571
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22259314
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lightningwaltz/pseuds/lightningwaltz
Summary: Ferdinand and Hubert get stuck on a cliff. Ferdinand does what he can to keep Hubert calm.
Relationships: Ferdinand von Aegir/Hubert von Vestra
Comments: 12
Kudos: 146
Collections: Chocolate Box - Round 5





	Appreciating the Heights

**Author's Note:**

  * For [crookeds](https://archiveofourown.org/users/crookeds/gifts).



> Hi Crookeds,
> 
> The bullet point "*Pride & Prejudice (2005) hand flex*" for this ship made me laugh and go "hard same." I knew I wanted to write something involving them holding hands and having UST after that ... thus this fic appeared. With them holding hands a couple times! For survival reasons only! (I also stuck them on a cliff so they had to work even harder to survive.)
> 
> Hope you enjoy!

Ferdinand’s appreciation of experiential learning had been growing by the day. That was the whole point of this academy. Namely, there were things you learned on the battlefield that could never be gleaned from required reading. 

For example, none of their books had covered being plucked up by a newly-riderless wyvern, being carried high up into the sky, and then being summarily tossed against the peaks of a mountain. 

No matter. Said peak had a cave tucked away in its cliff’s edge and some kind of divine intervention had led to Ferdinand landing safely inside it. Divine intervention stopped there, though, because the same wyvern had also abducted Hubert. 

For a few chaotic seconds, Ferdinand absently clawed at the cave floor, scraping his fingernails against stubbornly solid stone just to prove that he wasn’t still flying through the air. He loved heights, but he also loved be in control of how he ended up on them. The sound of gruff panting fully brought him back into his body. He looked over and noted- with distant dread- that Hubert hadn’t been so fortunate in his journey here. Namely, he was clinging to the edge of the cave’s cliff. His face should have been red with exertion but, instead, it was white as parchment. 

The bottom of Ferdinand’s stomach dropped out as contemplated what it would be like to see Hubert topple down into the chasm below. 

As much as Ferdinand would dearly love to start screaming his head off, this was one of those situations where someone else’s needs far outweighed his own. For example, Hubert rather needed to stay alive. 

Therefore, Ferdinand approached Hubert the way he would approach a skittish horse. Muscle memory had him walking to the edge of the cliff slowly and calmly. He didn’t allow any of his own worries to bleed into his voice. 

“Alright,” he said, getting down onto his knees. “I think we should get you out of this situation.”

“ _Do not_ think I fail to notice you trying to downplay everything for my own benefit.”

Oh, good. Good! At least Hubert had some vestiges of his personality left. Sometimes fear scraped a person’s distinguishing characteristics clean away, and everything seemed even more doomed. 

Ferdinand opted to save bantering for another time, however. Getting Hubert worked up wouldn’t help matters. Instead, he looked around, wishing they had a rope or a sturdy branch. There was some tree-related detritus in here, but nothing he could use to haul Hubert up. Ferdinand was forced to admit they only had one option. 

“You will have to give me your hand,” he said, authoritatively, allowing no room for self-doubt. 

Hubert was probably trying to raise one eyebrow. He definitely went even paler (if that was even possible.)

“No.” His voice was flat. “I have a good grip and I’ll wait for rescue. Thanks all the same.” 

Ferdinand leaned over, and spotted something that makes him want to exclaim in relief. He wouldn’t do so because- again-once, right now he needed to keep from startling Hubert. 

“There is an outcropping of rock just above your left foot. Yes, correct, balance your feet there. Very good.” 

“ _Do not_ condescend to me,” Hubert said. He really was full of suggestions on what Ferdinand shouldn’t do, today. But, to be fair, it _was_ his life that was on the line. 

Again, Ferdinand steered himself away from arguing or anything else that might make Hubert even more excitable. 

“You should be steady enough to give me your hand now.” 

Hubert just stared at him. His lips thinned out and he shook his head. “Unacceptable. Holding on is difficult enough with two hands.”

_Did you **not** just say you were going to wait for rescue like that?_

“Hubert.” Ferdinand attempted to imitate the way Edelgard said Hubert’s name when she wanted something done but wouldn’t lower herself to outright demanding it from him. One learned these kinds of things while attempting to outpace one’s future sovereign. “Please, take my hand.” 

As always, Hubert seemed keenly aware of what Ferdinand was trying to do. He derisively rolled his eyes but it looked more like they were sliding back in his head out of sheer panic. In any other situation Ferdinand might be entertained by seeing Hubert in such a vulnerable state. Not so today. 

Hubert’s hand grasped forward, quick as an arrow flying free. Ferdinand caught on to it with an assured grip. Hubert’s palm was a little sweaty, but it wasn’t so bad that Ferdinand was in danger of letting go.

“Excellent. Now I will count to three. On three I need you to jump up a little, alright?” 

“No. That’s a horrendous idea.”

“I am still going to count to three and you can decide what you will do.” 

Ferdinand has to cycle through the countdown three separate times. On his fourth attempt, Hubert made a broken, frustrated sound and hopped. His jump was a sad, infinitesimal sort of thing, but it provides enough momentum for Ferdinand to haul him up. All that archery practice had paid off in more ways than one. 

They ended up on the cave floor. Ferdinand was flat on his back, and Hubert was sprawled out on top of him. 

The skyline was visible in the corner of Ferdinand’s eye and it was truly beautiful. After days of rain, a veil of mist hung thick on the distant, autumnal-hued forest that blanketed the mountains. The approaching sunset made it shimmer. Some of those faraway leaves were bright as gold, others were dark as blood. Ferdinand could fully revel in his usual appreciation for heights now that neither of them was in danger of plunging into a ravine. If anything, Hubert being comfortingly solid and safe just added to Ferdinand’s inexplicable good mood. 

He was alone in this. Once Hubert caught his breath, he rolled away and backed up into the furthest reaches of the cave. Once he hit the wall, he dropped down into a seated position. This hollow was pretty small, though. Hubert could probably still see the horizon just fine. judging by the way his eyes were locked on something just beyond Ferdinand’s shoulder. He displayed other equine-like signs of fear, as well: tensed muscles in his neck, shoulders heaving from rough breaths, a hand that tapped against the ground. 

So... Hubert was afraid of heights. It would be graceless to point out the obvious, and it would be even more graceless to admit that it was a relief that someone so unflappable experienced fear. For now, it would probably be best to distract Hubert with a task that required concentration. Ferdinand peeled off some of his armor and mail, and then slipped out of one of his shirts. Hubert opened his mouth like he was about to make some kind of comment and then promptly ran out of energy for it. 

Ferdinand always kept a small first aid kit sewed up in his combat shirts. It contained the bare minimum; bandages, a small vial of cleaning alcohol, and needle and thread. A noble had to be prepared. 

“I have a deep cut on my hand,” he announced. This was true enough, after all. He just hadn’t noticed it until the two of them got their bearings a few minutes ago. “Can you sew it up?”

“You pulled me up with that hand?” Hubert asked. “What if blood had dripped everywhere and made it impossible?” 

“Obviously it did not.” Ferdinand gestured at Hubert, indicating that he was relatively safe in the back of the cave. “If you help me out we can make it even.”

Hubert stared at the needle and thread in hands like he’d never seen such objects in his life. “Oh, I didn’t realize I was supposed to feel _indebted_ to you for not letting me squash my head to bits on the boulders below.” He swallowed rapidly a few times, and the whites in his eyes somehow expanded. 

“I will take your colorful choice of imagery as proof you do feel some gratitude,” Ferdinand said, sitting across from Hubert. 

Here was the undeniable thing about Hubert; it was always captivating to watch him engaged in some task. It didn’t matter if he was engrossed by far-ranging battle tactics, or measuring out flour whenever their professor decided baking would make for a great bonding exercise. And, apparently, it didn’t matter if it was Hubert methodically- almost gently!- pushing a needle and needle and thread through Ferdinand’s skin. Soon enough, the edges of the wound have been pressed together. Ferdinand felt itchy, like he’d already begun to heal. 

Hubert must have been a little nervous and woozy because he kept holding on to Ferdinand’s hand. At least his eyes looked relatively normal. His breathing had also evened out.

“How will we get out of here?” Hubert mused out loud, sounding like he’d never been so confused in his life. 

“Start a fire?” 

“Why?” 

“They saw where the wyvern took us. They might think we are dead, but they will know we might be alive if they see smoke pouring from the last location we were seen.”

“Ah, yes. Yes, yes, yes.” Hubert dropped Ferdinand's hand like he had just realized he was holding a hot coal. Then he began to gather some dried leaves and stray small branches into a pile. 

Ferdinand, meanwhile, looked around for anything that might serve as a bucket. He found a few small boulders with grooves in them, and started rolling them to the cavern’s entrance. Hopefully he could use these to gather precipitation. He decided to lay some of his armor out there, too, even thought it would run the risk of rusting. He would worry about that after the fact. For now, he would have to trust that it would glimmer in the sunlight (or, soon enough, the moonlight) and act as a beacon to their classmates.

“What are you doing with those rocks?” Hubert asked. He didn’t have any conduits for larger spells, but he was able to start sparks. Consequently, he had started a fire in his pile of kindling. A small thread of smoke poured it’s way out of the cave’s mouth. “That’s not going to keep a wyvern out if the enemy decides to come looking for us.”

Battle was so far from Ferdinand’s mind that Hubert almost sounded like he was speaking in a foreign language.

“I am setting up a way to gather rain water.” He hesitated, not wanting to add to Hubert’s worries. “I suspect it will not take long to locate us but I am preparing for the possibility that it… will.” 

Hubert slumped back onto the ground. “ _Excellent_. Wonderful.”

Ferdinand sat down beside him. “Looks like you still have your pack of battle equipment.” It was on the floor at their feet. Ferdinand had a distant memory of seeing it looped over Hubert’s shoulder and flapping in the wind. He had paid it no mind while trying to convince Hubert to take his hand. There had been more pressing concerns at the time. 

“Ah, yes.” Hubert lifted the bag up, and rifled through it. “All my spell conduits fell out of it, naturally, as did all my nutritionally-sound food rations. Fortunately I still have _these_.”

He handed a small tin too Ferdinand. He opened the lid, only to be greeted with rows of tiny cookies. They’d all been expertly decorated with icing and elegantly sparkling glitter. The faint scent of coffee wafted out. 

“This is better than nothing.” Ferdinand was already calculating how many of these they should eat per day to hang on for a week. 

“They’re coffee and chocolate flavored.” Hubert said. He allowed his eyes to fall shut, and rested his head against the wall of the cave. “The professor gifted it to me, assuming I would like anything prepared by Lady Edelgard, particularly if coffee was involved.”

“That assumption makes sense,” said Ferdinand, baffled. 

“Coffee is exquisite enough on its own. You don’t dilute it with _sugar._ ” 

“Oh. I can understand that. The professor once gave me petit fours with a fondant made of crescent moon tea. I had similar objections.”

“Did you tell her?”

“Of course.”

Hubert snorted. “I would have as well, but...”

“Lady Edelgard helped make the cookies.”

“Yes. And so you see my dilemma.” 

It was a dumb idea to snack on their only food, but now Ferdinand’s curiosity got the best of them. The cookies were a little stale by now, but Ferdinand hadn’t eaten since breakfast and he _was_ pretty ravenous. 

“How is it?”

“Not bad. Honestly, it improves coffee’s bitterness.” Unlike tea, coffee was _not_ a delicate flavor. 

Hubert’s hand dove into the tin and he pulled out a cookie for himself. 

“Barely acceptable,” he said, after finishing. “Better than if we had to eat our own shoes.”

That made Ferdinand laugh, genuinely. “Thankfully it hasn’t come to that yet.” He wished he could see Hubert’s expression better. Night had fallen by now, and their fire was much too small. 

A loud breeze kicked up again, and Hubert’s eyes darted over Ferdinand’s shoulder again. He grabbed onto Ferdinand’s hand and squeezed down on the cut so hard that it hurt. 

“Please tell me those aren’t _clouds_ out there. Please tell me we aren’t that high up.” 

Ferdinand looked outside. There were, indeed, little cloudy wisps outside the cave entrance. “I think that is just mist.” One look at Hubert’s eyes and he modified his speech. “I know that is just mist, actually.”

This garnered him no response. Ferdinand pulled his hand away, pried the cookie tin from Hubert (they’re finished if he drops and contaminates their only food supply), and set it on the ground. Then he reached for Hubert’s shoulders. 

“Try not to look outside. Just … look at me instead and be annoyed by me.”

“Look at you?” Hubert said with hearty skepticism. He still did as ordered. 

“Yes, like that. And be annoyed by-”

Hubert’s lips crashed into Ferdinand’s. 

It could probably be called a kiss, but that term was a little too generous. Ferdinand yelped against Hubert’s mouth before deciding this was as good a distraction tactic as any. After all, people tended to keep their eyes closed while they kissed. They also had to focus. 

And Hubert _was_ focusing on this task with the same amount of precision he allotted to everything else. Soon enough, Ferdinand was as distracted as he wanted Hubert to be. The only thing he could focus on- other than Hubert’s lips and tongue- was his own coldness. He pulled Hubert closer, seeking warmth, seeking… more. Of everything. He didn't care at all when Hubert sucked sharply on Ferdinand’s neck. You just kind of expect biting remarks from Hubert. Therefore, literal biting during kissing was the only thing that made sense. 

“Oh my.” An unexpected voice makes them both jump and twist away from another. 

Petra was hovering just outside their cave on the back of a pegasus.

“Well!” she said, brightly. “It is good to see you are both very alive!”

Hubert stood. “You are alive or you are not alive. It requires no clarifying adverbs.” He looked a bit green, clearly at the thought of having to get on a pegasus. The color clashed magnificently with all the places where his face was flushed. 

Ferdinand picked the cookie tin up off the floor and followed after Hubert.


End file.
